{"id":1016,"date":"2020-09-14T15:58:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2021-02-05T09:55:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:55:39","slug":"your-voice-my-voice-the-voice-of-a-latino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/your-voice-my-voice-the-voice-of-a-latino\/","title":{"rendered":"Your voice. My voice. The voice of a Latino."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Connie Guerrero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With nothing but my parents' dreams for a better life ahead of us, my brothers and I came, by their hand, to this country more than 40 years ago. The stars and stripes became my new home and the state of California embraced us<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My father, a gardener; my mother, cleaning rooms: nothing stopped them<\/strong>. They made every day count to let me know that We deserved a better life<\/strong>The school taught me about math and differences. The color of my skin stood out in an American school<\/strong>. I stopped being Consuelo, that \"Chelo\" that came out of Sonora, Mexico<\/strong>to become Connie<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, I was not aware of the importance of the latino voice and vote.<\/strong>We will learn about how a decision can change the future of those around us who love us, how strong a voice can be, and even stronger if it is a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 20 years old, I became an American citizen<\/strong>. It was my opportunity to finally make my voice heard and to stand up on behalf of all those who could not; on behalf of thousands of Latinos who, because they are not \"legal\", have had to hide their opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than 15 years of activism,<\/strong>a time when I've been twice commissioned in Redwood<\/strong>I have not stopped there so that the needs of a community that brings not only work, but great values and culture, are taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 2020 has not been easy for anyone. From the economic issue to the climate issue to a pandemic that has not abated<\/strong> to anyone in the world. Racism and lack of empathy<\/strong> by the authority has also shocked the whole country. Nothing is indifferent to us<\/strong>. Everything affects us and hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning that the needs of the Latino community didn't matter, that the Hispanic voice wasn't worth it \"because they couldn't vote\" hit me like a bucket of cold water. That was the reality. That's what we face every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Redwood City there are over 80,000 people<\/strong>of them, around 42,000 are registered to vote<\/strong>but not even half of them exercise their right<\/strong>. The percentage of Latinos who can use their vote is very low and even more so than those who are registered to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking that their opinions or needs are not important - often having two jobs - little interest in local issues or the various proposals has discouraged them from voting<\/strong>which today is their right as citizens, in legal terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's time to join forces, to move forward and believe that the future belongs to everyone and for everyone<\/strong>I believe that our community, county, city, and country can be a true seedbed of opportunity for all. It's time for you voice, my voice, the voice of a Latino, be taken into account<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call to raise awareness for the improvement of our environment in order to generate a change, which can only be achieved through voting, participating and inviting<\/strong> others who can also make use of their right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connie Guerrero is director of We Vote Redwood City<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connie Guerrero. Sin nada m\u00e1s por delante que los sue\u00f1os de mis padres por darnos una mejor vida, mis hermanos y yo llegamos, de su mano, a este pa\u00eds hace m\u00e1s de 40 a\u00f1os. Las barras y las estrellas se convirtieron en mi nuevo hogar y el estado de California nos abraz\u00f3. Mi padre, jardinero; mi […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[273],"class_list":{"0":"post-1016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinion","8":"tag-ccj"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1144,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}